Private Schools Still Thriving: This topic is a regular one and it keeps coming up. The private schools are still doing very well in high school sports - at least some of them are.

In Alabama, the two primary atheltic organizations are the AHSAA and the AISA. The AISA is comprised of all private schools and is a good bit smaller in membership than the AHSAA.

The AHSAA has over 400 member schools. Only about ten percent are in the private sector.

With certain restrictions in place for many of the public school districts, rules have been put in place to even the playing field for privates in athletic competition.

Classification counts for private schools are 1.3 per student. This pushes many schools up a classification. In addtion, the AHSAA has implemented a "competitive balance" factor that also pushes certain successful private schools up the ladder.

A 2A or 3A in some cases could be playing 4A or 5A. It happens.

The reclassificatons for the next two years are already in place. Don't expect any new regulations prior to the completion of the next cycle.

There are a lot of sports in the AHSAA. In several, the private schools are still winning at the highest level.

The AHSAA baseball championships are this week. There is a lot of private flavor in these state title series.

Most of the privates are Class 1A-4A. Here's a look at the number competing for rings in those matchups - 4 of 7.

In 1A, two private schools are facing off in Lindsay Lane Christian and Bayshore Christian.

The 2A private is Decatur Heritage. Trinity is the 3A private school rep. And Mobile Christian is the private school playing for the 4A crown.

Last year, private schools won four of the seven state titles in baseball.

Again, about ten percent of the makeup of the AHSAA is private schools. More than 50 percent are playing for state titles in the four classes where the majority of the schools reside.

Because there aren't many large private schools, it's difficult to come up with a private-only classification, but would it be better to have two classifications (a large and a small) and put the rest of the publics in about six?

Many public school coaches would answer with a resounding yes. The dominance of private schools is even greater in other sports like track and field and golf.

Sometimes those schools just do it better. Sometimes they have more resources. Sometimes they recruit. Although recruiting is evident beyond the private sector.

Not every private school is dominating. You can find the schools that have had the most success pretty easily.

I'd like to get in the conference room with the AHSAA Central Board. I assume these conversations have come up.

The state of Georgia has made the change. They have seven public school classes and one private school class. That gives them eight state champions.

I think that might work fine here or my idea of two private school classes and six more made up of public schools. The classification sizes would surely be smaller for privates and we can wipe out the multiplier and competitive balance.

It might be that both sides can agree on this one. Not every private school is tickled about the continuing changes to make it harder for them to contend. Remember the lawsuit a few years ago from St. Paul's?

This proposal sounds more like a compromise going forward. We will see.